Book Deals: Week of July 24, 2017

By Rachel Deahl
|

Jul 21, 2017

Penny Closes Triple with MinotaurLouise Penny closed a new three-book deal with her longtime publisher, Minotaur Books. The North American rights agreement was struck by Minotaur’s senior v-p and publisher, Andrew Martin, and Penny’s agent, Teresa Chris at Teresa Chris Literary. Hope Dellon will edit the books. Through the deal, Penny will write three more entries in her Armand Gamache novels, which are set in Quebec and follow the titular detective (known in Canadian parlance as a chief inspector). The next Gamache novel, Glass Houses, will be published on August 29.

Haymarket Lands Super Bowl ChampIn a world rights agreement, Anthony Arnove at Haymarket Books bought Michael Bennett’s Things That Make White People Uncomfortable. Bennett, a defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks—and a member of their Super Bowl–winning team in 2014—has gained notoriety off the field for his vocal support of women’s rights and the Black Lives Matter movement. This book, which he’s doing with sportswriter Dave Zirin, will be, Arnove said, “a sports memoir and manifesto as hilarious as it is revealing.” Bennett was represented by his sports management company, Independent Sports & Entertainment, while Zirin did not use an agent in the deal. The book is slated for April 2018.

Tinseltown Historian Sells Zsa Zsa BookKensington’s John Scognamiglio took North American rights to Sam Staggs’s Finding Zsa Zsa. Eric Myers, who has an eponymous shingle, represented Staggs, a Hollywood historian and author (All About All About Eve), and said the biography of Zsa Zsa Gabor tells “the untold story of the Gabor dynasty.” Elaborating, Myers said the book traces the lives of the Gabor sisters—Zsa Zsa, Eva, and Magda—from “their escape from Nazi-occupied Hungary through their astonishing rise to fame in Hollywood and beyond.”

Jewell Re-ups at AtriaBestseller Lisa Jewell (The Girls in the Garden) closed a two-book deal with her long-standing U.S. publisher, Atria, for two domestic suspense novels. Sarah Cantin took U.S., Canadian, and open market rights to the titles from Deborah Schneider at Gelfman Schneider/ICM (who was working on behalf of Curtis Brown’s Jonny Geller). Jewell, who is British, has had seven of her 15 novels published in the U.S. by Atria.

Sundance Winner Sells Graphic NovelOni Press’s Charlie Chu took world rights to a graphic novel called Long Road to Liquor City by Macon Blair, who won the 2017 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for his film I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore. The Depression-era–set book, which is being illustrated by Eisner nominee Joe Flood, is, the publisher said, an “adventure comedy about two drifters, Jed and Thanny, as they criss-cross the country in search of the fabled Liquor City.” The book, which was sold without an agent, is scheduled for fall 2018.

BriefsPhyllis Fagell, a professional counselor, sold a book called Middle School Matters to Claire Schultz at Da Capo Lifelong Books. The publisher said the title, which is slated for spring 2019, makes the case that “middle school is not just a tough phase to endure but rather a critical stage that parents can’t afford to ignore.” It offers tips, the publisher explained, on how parents can “help their kids through these trying years.” Schultz took world rights to the book, at auction, from Jill Marsal at the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

Gene Brissie at Lyons Press took world rights to Voice of America executive producer Susan Shand’s Sinjar:The Heroic 14-Day Battle to Save the Yazidis from ISIS. The book, according to Leah Spiro at Riverside Creative Management (who represented Shand), is “a veteran journalist’s account of how the U.S. military, at the direction of President Obama, prevented the genocide of the ancient Yazidi people in northern Iraq in August 2014.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled Leah Spiro's name.

A version of this article appeared in the 07/24/2017 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Deals

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